Over 155,000 staff gave their views and experiences of working for the NHS in England for the national staff survey. The response rate was 54 per cent.
NHS Employers will be developing a number of work programmes to support the NHS in the key areas highlighted in this year's survey findings.
We will be working with the trade unions to identify what we can do to help NHS trusts to look at their own results with a view to identifying the issues that they need to address at local level.
We need to do more in areas such as bullying and harassment and violence. Building on our recent campaign to help trusts tackle bullying at work, we will work with the NHS trade unions to understand more clearly why some trusts perform better than others in this area and to share the knowledge of the best. More information on bullying and harassment is available in the healthy workplaces section of our website.
Key findings
The key findings for all staff in the 2007 NHS national staff survey are given below, the full report can be found on the Healthcare Commission website. Figures for 2006 are given in brackets for comparison.
- Staff reporting that hot water, soap and paper towels or alcohol rubs were available when they need them: 91 per cent (88 per cent)
- Staff working more than their contracted hours: 66 per cent (70 per cent)
- Staff assessment of the extent to which their trust and their immediate manager were committed to helping them find a good work-life balance, where 1 is poor work-life balance and 5 is excellent: 3.38 (3.33)
- Staff appraised in the previous 12 months: 61 per cent (59 per cent)
- Staff having well structured appraisal reviews in the previous 12 months: 24 per cent (30 per cent)
- Percentage of staff receiving training, learning or development identified in the plan in the previous 12 months: 50 per cent (53 per cent)
- Staff appraised with personal development plans within the previous 12 months: 52 per cent (48 per cent)
- Staff taking part in at least one form of employer-supported training in the previous 12 months: 94 per cent (95 per cent)
- Staff assessment of the extent to which their immediate manager provided them with support, guidance and feedback on their work, where 1 is low level of support and 5 is high: 3.60 (3.45)
- Staff who had experienced discrimination in the past 12 months: 8 per cent (8 per cent)
- Staff job satisfaction, where 1 is very dissatisfied and 2 is very satisfied: 3.41 (3.40)
- Staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other staff in the previous 12 months: 18 per cent (17 per cent)
- Staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients or their relatives in the previous 12 months: 26 per cent (28 per cent)
- Staff personally experiencing physical violence from patients or their relatives in the previous 12 months: 13 per cent (13 per cent)
- Staff suffering work-related stress in the previous 12 months: 33 per cent (33 per cent)
- Staff using flexible working: 73 per cent (71 per cent)
